I wanted to understand what my drivers are. To do so I undertook an exercise to define my personal core values. I’m ashamedly stuck on self-help media. I mop it up on YouTube, I read books on light psychology that could be condensed into a few bullet points, and I write to myself and reflect on my direction. A lot of the self-help media focuses on how to get to a place. That’s great and all, but I’m fortunate to be in a situation where I don’t require constant forward motion and exponential growth. There are some areas I’m working on but mostly my needs are met.

There were a few areas outside of my psychological needs that I wanted to explore. Side-projects and progress at work for example. Despite all the self-help and productivity knowledge and my enjoyment in reflecting on my own goals it all felt a little flat. I soon understood it was because I had no clear direction and a lot of the collective mindset out there is focused on growth and the next thing. There were things I wanted to achieve but the reasons were not clear.

To make sure my intrinsic reasons were in order I listed them and revised them. I then made sure they were synchronised with what I was doing in my daily life.

The definition of a personal core value

A personal core value is a category of an area of work or life where your focus lies. The stronger your association with the value the stronger your drive to work on it is. You may value your financial position. The drivers for that might be autonomy. The way you get there may be through progressing at a career or working in your own business. You may value family and friends. You might value altruism, honesty, fun, or humour. The list goes on and it doesn’t have to fit in with another framework (although it helps to be able to cross reference). It has to be personal to you.

One of my core values is the ability to be creative. I knew I liked creating things but I didn’t know what for. I’ve always believed there does not need to be a reason for such things but in the days where my mind wonders it’s nice to remind myself why I should keep on track.

I value creativity because I am driven by self-expression and sharing stories. I also value creativity because it’s a form of relaxation. 90% of what I create goes in the bin and I’m sure that rings true with a lot of creative people. But the act of creating is where I get my buzz. Be it sitting here at my desk tapping away on my keyboard writing this article, drawing something that I know will end up looking less than impressive, or teasing out a chord structure on a guitar. The journey gives me far more joy than the destination.

Ordering values, drivers behind values, and connecting values

From my experience I have found that values can change. We’re adaptable in nature so it makes sense that our values and drivers change too. It helps to order a set of core values. This can be done with by comparing each value against the others. There are plenty of online quizzes that will sort this for you. This can help tease out conflicts too. If you have two values competing against each other with similar ranks it’ll help to figure out which one would ideally take precedence.

Once you have a list of your values the next step is to figure out why you have them. You can use ready made prompts to quiz yourself on each value and go from there. Consider how you act on the value in your daily life. Ask “why” a lot. If a value is too general it might need splitting up to achieve this. I value human connection but that can be broken down into different values with different drivers. Some examples of connection values could be social, friendship, family, or partners. Each value may be driven by a different need and may have different weights.

Some values may be required to enable other drivers. For example, you might value your home life but without a job you can’t afford the rent. That puts a dependency of work on your home. It’s helpful to listen to this dependency tree. It’ll help you guide your reflections. For example, you might be struggling at work but you might value pretty shiny things. This could give you reason to focus more on your work.

Using your personal core values

I have a list of core priorities. It helps to trim them down to keep focus and prevent scope creep. I have 6 categories and a few of them broken down with different drivers. Underneath I have a detailed paragraph for each value highlighting my drivers. If a value is an enabler for other values I write that here too. Lastly I have a list for my enabling chain which orders how the values interact. This priority will be different to how you rank intrinsic values but can be just as important.

I write to myself. You may already keep a journal. Having this clear framework at hand means you can reflect better knowing why you’ve taken specific actions or made certain decisions. It also acts as a guide if you need to realign priorities in your daily life. It’s basically a self-help cheat sheet tailored to you.

Because personal core values can change it may be worth revisiting this exercise every few months. If you feel your actions in daily life aren’t rewarding then the values mayb no longer hold true. They might also need tuning as priorities change. Life changes are typical to everyone.

It’s also worth pointing out that the activity of defining personal core values can be fun and therapeutic in itself. It doesn’t have to bear fruit. There’s nothing lost in trying this exercise and putting the contents in the bin. You may still reap emotional awareness from it.

I need reminding why I get out of bed sometimes. If my routine is flaking or my plans don’t sit right I can revise my values and remind myself why I do it all. It’s rewarding when done correctly. I compare it to self-therapy.

You might not need this. Your reasons may already be clear or you can drive yourself without a reason. For those that need meaning it may be a good start. That, or hiding your phone and deleting social media!